Keeping Lent at IHM

• Facemasks are strongly encouraged for everyone, regardless of vaccination status, and are required for those who are not yet fully vaccinated.
•  The church is sanitized by electrostatic fogger before every liturgy.  
• Church air is purified by bi-polar ionization. 
•  Holy Communion is offered under one species, and only in the hand. 

Abstinence from meat is observed by all Catholics 14 years and older on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all the Fridays of Lent. Fasting is observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by all Catholics who are 18 years of age but not  yet 59. Those bound by this rule may take only one full meal. Two smaller meals are permitted as necessary to maintain strength according to one’s needs.  
The Fridays outside of Lent remain days of penance, but one may substitute for the traditional abstinence from meat some practice of voluntary self-denial or personal penance such as daily mass, personal service to the aged or the sick, fasting once a week with the poor and hungry of the world, or a prayer of peace.

A single violation of these Lenten regulations is not a serious sin. General of substantial neglect of the obligation to do penance would be a serious matter.
 

This is the fasting that I wish, says the LORD:
releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke;
setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke;
sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.

- Isaiah 58:6-7

ASH WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22
Lent begins with imposition of ashes made from last year's blessed palm branches. Ash Wednesday is a day of fast and abstinence. Ashes will be distributed during: 

• 7:00 a.m. Misa (Spanish)
• 8:30 a.m. *
• 12:00 p.m. Midday Prayer
• 5:00 p.m. Mass
• 7:00 p.m. Evening Prayer
• 8:30 p.m. Misa (Spanish) *

DAILY MASS
Daily Mass is celebrated Monday-Friday and 1st Saturday mornings at 8:30 in English and Thursday evenings at 7:00 in Spanish. Masses are livestreamed at www.ihmatlanta.org/livestream.
 

LENT PENANCE 
The Sacrament of Penance will be offered on the Saturdays of Lent at 9:00 a.m. and on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m.. 

Our Lent Penance Service will be Monday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m. Monsignor Al and Father Robbie will have the assistance of many neighboring priest confessors, so this is your best opportunity to experience the healing of reconciliation before Easter.

There will be no confessions during the Sacred Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
 

STATIONS OF THE CROSS
For Catholics throughout the world, the Stations of the Cross are synonymous with Lent. This devotion, variously known as the “Way of the Cross”, “Via Crucis” or “Via Dolorosa”, commemorates 14 key events on the day of Christ’s crucifixion. The Stations originated in medieval Europe when wars prevented Christian pilgrims from visiting the Holy Land.  
February 24 through March 31 at 7:00 p.m. in English and at 8:00pm in Spanish.


LENTEN DINNER
The IHM Men's Group will offer Lenten Dinners on each of the Fridays of Lent from 6:00p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the school cafeteria. All appropriate public health precautions will be observed. The meals will be available for dine-in or take-out. To pre-order you meal click here


MUSTARD SEED MISSIONS
During our 17-year collaboration with Mustard Seed Communities in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, IHM has provided over 1,500 man-days and more than $250,000 of direct support in the form of missionary travel and donations. This year more than ever, MSC needs us. Mission trips, which account for nearly 90% of MSC's income, have been suspended since March 2020, and that suspension will likely continue through May 2022. 

Our goal this year is to raise $30,000 - the financial support IHM typically provides to MSC through our annual two mission trips to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. 

On Ash Wednesday and on each of the Sundays of Lent, there will be an opportunity after mass in the narthex to contribute to the needs of Mustard Seed; or you can click here and click on the "Donate Now" button to make an online donation. Thank you.